


Young secrets

by Vita_Umbrarum



Series: The author chases plot bunnies around Camelot [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Especially Arthur and Gwaine, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, They all need a hug, Uther was not a good dad, domestic knights, there's swearing because Gwaine, they get turned into kids cuz why not, theyre not important though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24008116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vita_Umbrarum/pseuds/Vita_Umbrarum
Summary: Perhaps, Leon mused, Camelot was cursed. Perhaps someone had made an invisible magic banner withPlease attack and/or inconvenience us with magic!and hung it at the gates. He wasn't sure, but by now this was getting ridiculous.
Relationships: Gwen & Knights of the Round Table (Merlin), Gwen/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Knights of the Round Table & Merlin (Merlin)
Series: The author chases plot bunnies around Camelot [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1725211
Comments: 34
Kudos: 193





	1. Prologue

Perhaps, Leon mused, Camelot was cursed. Whenever something magical happened, Camelot would be involved. Perhaps it was because of Uther, that most magical people hated them and wanted revenge. Perhaps it was because Camelot was placed in the middle of Albion and therefore the most strategic place. Perhaps someone had made an invisible magic banner with _Please attack and/or inconvenience us with magic!_ and hung it at the gates. He wasn’t sure. What Leon was sure of was that Camelot was a very dangerous place to be a knight. In the almost ten years he had been knight he had faced many challenges. Most knights of Camelot didn’t serve for more than a few years, they either died or became advisors since no one seemed to be able to deal with Camelot’s madness for long. Leon was an exception to this rule. Sir Gwaine had even dubbed him Sir Leon _‘’The immortal one’’_ of Camelot. The other knights were highly amused by this and even Leon had to admit it was quite funny. Immortality or not, Leon was just happy to serve the crown, but by now the magic encounters were getting quite ridiculous.

It had been a lovely summer day so the king had decided to go on a hunt. His most loyal knights, those of the Round Table, and his manservant Merlin had accompanied him. The group of friends had just set off into the forest when a young doe bolted out of the bushes and fled deeper into the woods. Laughing and yelling the knights stirred their mounts in a fast chase. The manservant followed, although significantly slower. They charged into a clearing, but instead of the doe they found an old man. The old man in question wore long faded and tattered dark blue robes and had a beard that almost reached the ground. The king held up his hand and the band of knights halted just as the servants brown mare joined them in the clearing.

‘’Who are you?’’ the king questioned the traveller.

A laugh echoed through the clearing, startling the horses, who nervously danced away from the old man. The young king frowned; he was not used to strangers laughing in his presence like that.

‘’It does not matter who I am, Arthur Pendragon, more who you and your knights are. Especially who you were,’’ the man spoke cryptically. 

He reminded Merlin of Kilgharrah; perhaps all old people and dragons spoke in riddles. The servant snorted at this thought, which prompted several confused looks from various knights. Arthur glared at them. 

Elyan unsheathed his sword, ‘’State your business traveller, and be respectful; you are talking to your king.’’

‘’I am no traveller, young knight, for I have no destination, only a goal.’’ The knights looked at each other with confusion, Leon motioned for the man to continue. ‘’The times are changing, young king. You and your kingdom will be challenged soon, you must be prepared-’’

‘’’What’s that supposed to mean?’’ Gwaine interrupted.

The man stared at him calmly and continued, ‘’You do not trust each other, not truly. Forgotten truths and lies grow between you all. A brotherbond cannot be forged from this. You must know each other and their secrets, their pasts, futures, hopes and losses; only then may you persevere. Trust me, once and future king, this brings me as little pleasure as you, but we see no other way.’’ The man brought his hands in front of him, eyes flashing gold, and a glowing blue sphere materialized out of thin air.

‘’A sorcerer!’’ one of the knights gasped. All of them now drew their swords and lifted their shields. Unbeknownst to them Merlin readied a shielding spell behind their backs. 

The sphere rose into the sky and burst into rays of sunlights. The forest seemed to come alive a bit more and the air was filled with wonder.

‘’One day each, take care of each other, your actions will not change the past or present, but they will shape the future. I wish you the best of luck, knights of the table,’’ the old man spoke and then he disappeared, leaving behind a shower of butterflies.

The knights were silent for a long time, staring at the now empty clearing, ‘’Am I drunk,’’ Gwaine questioned, ‘’or did that really just happen?’’

‘’No, it really happened.’’

‘’Perhaps both?’’

‘’Pretty sure we all saw it…’’

‘’Quiet!’’ the king snapped, ‘’we return now, the sorcerer may not have harmed us, but can still pose a threat to Camelot.’’ 

He turned his horse and in silence the group galloped back to the citadel. There would be no more hunting that day, or the rest of the week for that matter. They’d be rather, preoccupied as to say. In a cave in the forest a sorcerer laughed to himself, ‘’Much to learn, truly much to learn.’’  
\--


	2. Leon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ''It's Leon, how bad can it be?'' Elyan questioned.
> 
> ''Very,'' Arthur answered.

The next morning most of them had forgotten the encounter already as they assembled in the courtyard for their morning practice. Surprisingly even Gwaine was on time for once, although the knight was stumbling around and seemed to have forgotten his cape. The bell rung to signal the start of their training and the king did a head count.

‘’Where is Sir Leon?’’

The rest of the knights looked around. Sir Leon was never late. He never missed practice. Not even that one time when the knight had been sick and Merlin had to drag him away to Gaius’s chambers. Several knights shrugged.

‘’No one has seen him since last night, Sire,’’ one of the spoke up, Sir Dinadan. ‘’We left the tavern together and he retreated to his chambers.’’

‘’The sorcerer!’’ Percival shouted suddenly.

‘’Shit.’’ Merlin dropped the swords he was holding and stared at Arthur, wondering what he would do.

‘’Practice is cancelled. Continue the patrols. Round Table, follow me. You too, Merlin,’’ the king commanded.

The knights all nodded and left the field. Arthur took off towards Leon’s chambers, the knights at his heels. On the way there Gwaine came up with theories of what could have happened.

‘’Maybe he got really drunk and overslept. Perhaps the sorcerer turned him into a girl and he’s embarrassed. Maybe he became a butterfly, or an apple, or-’’

‘’Gwaine shut up,’’ Elyan interrupted the long haired knight.

Gwaine huffed and Arthur motioned them to be silent. They had reached Leon’s chambers. Arthur knocked but got no response, he pushed the door open. In the room was no sign of Leon. The knights spilled into the room, hoping to find a clue as to where their friend was. Percival noticed it first and waved at the others to be silent, he pointed to the bed.

There, half tangled in the sheets, a young boy slept. He couldn’t be much older than ten or eleven and was wearing a tunic young noble children wore. Strawberry blonde curls were spread over the pillow. Now there were two possibilities as to what this meant; one, Sir Leon had a child no one knew about. Two, the child was Sir Leon.

‘’This will be fun,’’ Gwaine sighed. The others felt inclined to agree.  
\--

‘’It’s Leon, how bad can it be?’’ Elyan question.

‘’Very,’’ Arthur answered, ‘’just wake him up and we’ll see.’’

Percival walked over to the bed and shook the child’s shoulder.

‘’Nooo, a few more minutes Mom,’’ the boy muttered into his pillow.

Gwaine laughed at this. The boy looked up, blue eyes glaring at Gwaine for waking him up, then he frowned and looked at the knights standing around his room.

‘’You’re not my mom, nor are you one of the maids,’’ the boy frowned. “Who are you? Where is my mom?’’

‘’Your parents went out with the king early this morning. We have been assigned to stay with you for the rest of this day and to take over your training,’’ Arthur explained. ‘’The young prince went with them, so you won’t see him today either.’’

‘’Alright,’’ Leon shrugged. ‘’I’m hungry.’’ The boy stumbled out of the bed, danced around Percival and stormed out the door. The knights stared at the door, a loud crash and a yelled apology came from the hallway.

‘’Sire?’’

‘’Yes Percival?’’

‘’He stole my dagger.’’

\--

It took them almost an hour to find the kid. A good part of that hour was spend apologizing to the cook, who was not very happy with the state of her kitchen. In the end Gwaine managed to catch the boy and set him on his shoulders so he wouldn’t run off again. They brought the boy to the empty courtyard, some equipment from the morning practice was scattered over the field.

‘’Are we going to train?’’ Leon questioned, ‘’I’m going to be the best knight ever, my dad says so, and I will slay dragons, and conquer kingdoms, and, and-’’

‘’He’s very talkative, isn’t he,’’ Elyan noted. 

Arthur stared blankly at him, ‘’It’ll get worse. Leon was an absolute terror as a child. Luckily he matured as he grew up, unlike some.’’ He looked at Gwaine, who seemed to be telling a story about how he once met a dragon who spoke only in riddles.

‘’I want to fight him,’’ exclaimed Leon, pointing at Percival with the dagger he had stolen. The knights shared a look and Arthur shook his head. ‘’It has to be him,’’ insisted the boy. ‘’My dad is very important and I want to fight him, so I will.’’

Arthur shrugged, ‘’Fine, we’ll use blunt wooden swords. Merlin, get Gaius.’’

‘’We won’t hurt him Arthur, there’s no need for-’’

‘’No but he will kick you, and he kicks hard. There’s a reason people called him a disguised devil.’’

Merlin ran off and Percival and Leon both grabbed a wooden sword. After some convincing from Gwaine, the boy parted with the dagger. Percival looked over at Elyan and Arthur, wondering what exactly they wanted him to do. Leon charged at him with a war cry and started hitting him with the wooden sword. Percival blinked and tried to deflect a blow but the child was faster and hit him, then Leon kicked him in the shins.

This dance continued for a while. Percival’s technique was a lot better but Leon was faster and harder to hit. The boy also had no problems with kicking, cursing and yelling at his opponent. When Percival tapped out Elyan stepped up. The former blacksmith was quicker and had less problems with keeping up with the boy. However, once Leon threw his sword and hit Elyan in a not-so-fortunate spot the knight decided to take a break as well. Luckily Gaius had arrived by then.

‘’Gwaine you fight him.’’

‘’Why me?’’

‘’Because I don’t want to.’’

Gwaine grumbled some curse word and picked up the sword. Instead of letting Leon approach he dashed over to the boy and tripped him. Leon gaped up at him from his position in the grass.

‘’That’s not fair!’’

‘’The enemy won’t care about fair, kid. Your technique is sloppy, come on, up, we need to improve your footwork.’’

Gwaine held his hand out and pulled Leon up. He adjusted the boy’s grip on the sword and pushed him around a bit until his stance was correct. He took a few steps back and motioned for Leon to attack. Leon charged, Gwaine sidestepped, Leon fell forward and landed on his face.

‘’You’re too eager. You need to focus. Get up and try again.’’

Leon charged again, this time when Gwaine sidestepped he veered off to the left and ran into the knight. 

Gwaine stared at him and grinned, ‘’That’s better, but unless you want to defeat the enemy by pushing them over you need to use your sword.’’

The rest of the morning was spend with the knights watching Gwaine teach Leon. Arthur, Elyan and Percival sometimes yelled pointers and compliments from the sidelines while wondering why Gwaine knew how to train a kid. A little further away Gaius and Merlin discussed the spell that the sorcerer must have cast.

‘’Are you sure you can’t undo the spell?’’

‘’In theory I probably could, but I don’t know what spell was used. Besides, what harm will it do, they’ll be a child for one day each. The sorcerer said it was necessary to build trust and otherwise Camelot would fall.’’

‘’If anything goes wrong, you will be responsible.’’

On the other side of the courtyard Leon threw his sword at Gwaine’s head, who barely managed to dodge, ‘’I’m hungry,’’ the boy shouted, ‘’I want lunch.’’

‘’That’s a surprisingly good idea, it’s almost noon.’’ Arthur got to his feet, Elyan and Percival followed swiftly. ‘’Merlin, put the swords away and we’ll get something to eat.’’

‘’Pick me up!’’ Leon yelled at Gwaine.

‘’What?’’

‘’I want to sit on your shoulders again! Pick me up!’’

‘’You sure you don’t want to sit on Percival’s shoulders, you’ll be a lot taller.’’

‘’No! You’re better at fighting. Now pick me up or I’ll steal your dagger too.’’

Gwaine snorted at this and lifted the boy up so he could sit on his shoulders. The boy giggled at being so high up and seemed to calm down a little.

‘’Gwaine, where did you learn to take care of kids? I refuse to believe you’re just a natural,’’ Merlin questioned the knight.

‘’’Please tell me you don’t have a kid somewhere,’’ Arthur butted in.

‘’Not that I know of, but no, I had younger siblings.’’

‘’Had?’’

‘’Well, I have seen them in a long time, you know, it doesn’t matter anyway,’’ the knight stammered. ‘’Onwards! To the kitchen, adventure awaits!’’ He ran off with Leon on his shoulders.

\--

Lunch was a relatively quiet affair until Leon launched an apple at some other knights at a different table. It hit Galehaut right in the face. This on its own wouldn’t have been a problem since Galehaut simply ate the apple. Dinadan however, who was seated next to Galehaut, took this opportunity to instigate a food fight. Leon was absolutely delighted by this and threw a cup of water in Arthur’s face before running off.

Once the fight ended several knights realized they were missing a dagger, their sword, or their cloak. Dinadan even managed to lose a shoe. On one of the tables in the corners Leon had stashed all the stolen things. 

‘’One honeycake per piece. It’s a fair deal,’’ the boy reasoned, grinning widely.

Gwaine laughed and set him on his shoulders, ‘’I have a better deal for you; you give everything back, we go out riding to the forest and don’t mention any of this to your parents. Deal?’’

‘’I still want honeycakes.’’

‘’We will bring some with us,’’ offered Merlin. At this, Leon nodded.

‘’To the stables!’’

Teyrnon, Leon’s horse seemed to recognize its rider, even when said rider was now two feet shorter than normal. Leon was absolutely overjoyed by the attention the stallion gave him so they spent a few minutes petting the horse before Gwaine plopped him on one of the few ponies they had in the stables. At first Leon protested at having to ride a pony but once Elyan explained that Pryderi was a former wild pony and therefore not that easy to ride, the boy agreed.

The group ventured into the forest and after a few detours because Pryderi decided some specific bushes definitely needed trimming, they reached a lake. They took a break there to give the horses some time to rest and because Leon kept complaining about honeycakes. The group ended up spending the afternoon there. Elyan and Arthur performed a mock swordfight and Merlin showed Leon how to weave a flowercrown which was presented to Arthur because _‘’Your name is Arthur, just like the prince, so you need a crown.’’_ Gwaine convinced Leon that Arthur was actually a runaway princess from a faraway land beyond the sea. 

\--

The sun was low on the horizon when they returned to the citadel and dinner went by quietly. The last challenge of the day was getting Leon to go to bed. On Gaius’s advice they had dragged several cots into Arthur’s room so they could sleep there and keep an eye on whoever would be a kid the next morning. Leon was having none of it and refused to settle down. No amount of bribery from the knights got him to sit still.

‘’If I sing you a lullaby, will you please go to sleep?’’ offered Gwaine from his spot on the floor. He had given up trying ten minutes ago and had hoped Leon would tire himself out but so far that strategy didn’t seem to be working.

Leon went still, ‘’Is it a pretty lullaby? Like the ones my mom sings?’’

‘’I’m probably not as good at singing as your mom, but it’s a nice song.’’

‘’Alright then, but you can’t sing from the floor. And if it’s not a pretty song I won’t go to sleep.’’

Gwaine got up from the floor and leaned against one of the walls, ‘’Just lie down and we’ll see,’’ the knight started humming a melody.

_‘’Goodnight, goodnight,  
It’s time now to sleep.  
The moon’s watching over  
You and your dreams.  
Goodnight, goodnight,  
My sweet little one.  
Tomorrow your eyes  
They will light up the sun.’’_

The long haired knight sang. The other openly gaped at him; they didn’t know Gwaine could sing. Sure, sometimes the former rogue sang barsongs but that was when he was drunk, and that never sounded half as good at this. Gwaine smiled, closed his eyes and continued singing.

_‘’But goodnight, goodnight,  
Sweet dreams for now.  
Drift off to sleep  
On your pillow of clouds.  
Goodnight, goodnight,  
My sweet little friend.  
Tomorrow’s adventures  
They will soon begin.  
Tomorrow’s adventures  
Will soon begin.’’_

At the end of the song Leon was asleep. Gwaine walked over and pulled the blanket up to the boy’s chin. 

He grinned and turned to the knights, ‘’If Leon was a terror, I don’t want to know what the princess will be like.’’ He walked to his cot, kicked his shoes off and fell asleep instantly, leaving two knights, a king and a servant with questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's the first of the knights as a kid!  
> I'm not doing Merlin, since a) he's technically not a knight, b) a lot of people have done de-aging fics with Merlin,  
> c) I have no idea how to write tiny Merlin with out of control magic without making it a magic reveal fic.
> 
> Feedback is greatly appreciated!  
> Who got all four names I put in there as reference to Arthurian legends and Celtic mythology?  
> the song is Lullaby by Sleeping at last


	3. Arthur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘’Arthur burned the castle’s kitchen’s down once,’’ Leon retorted, ''if I was a terror, then he was the devil incarnate once he got something in his head.''

When Elyan woke up the next morning he scanned the room and did a headcount, Leon was back to normal but Arthur significantly shorter. A blond haired boy was curled up on the king’s bed, hugging a pillow to his chest. Elyan stood up and went around the room, shaking everyone awake, a finger to his lips to signal to keep quiet. Leon blinked up at the knight, confused as to why he was waking up on a cot in the king’s chambers. A maid knocked on the door and brought in breakfast. While the knights and Merlin ate they wondered how to wake up their now ten year old king.

‘’So the sorcerer cast a spell, which changes one of us into a child for a day, and everyday it will be someone else,’’ Leon summed up, ‘’and yesterday I was a child, and today Arthur is.’’ Percival nodded. ‘’Dear god this is going to be one hell of a day,’’ groaned Leon, falling back on his cot.

‘’You know, Arthur called you _‘’an absolute terror’’_ and after yesterday I doubt he can be much worse,’’ Merlin laughed, Leon raised an eyebrow.

‘’Did he now?’’

‘’You stole Percival’s dagger.’’

‘’And several swords.’’

‘’And one of Dinadan’s shoes.’’

‘’And you tried to fight every single one of us, to become the best knight ever.’’

Elyan and Percival recalled. Leon looked rather unimpressed.

‘’You started a foodfight in the dining hall by throwing an apple in Galehaut’s face.’’

‘’Don’t forget he helped me make a flowercrown for Arthur,’’ Merlin pitched in with a smile. ‘’You were rather energetic, but it was very sweet.’’

‘’Arthur burned the castle’s kitchens down once,’’ Leon retorted. ‘’He might have had a little bit of help, but it was entirely his fault. If I was a terror, then he was the devil incarnate once he got something in his head. Worst thing is, you can’t say no. He is the king, well prince right now, after all.’’ The knight laughed and accidentally woke up Arthur.

‘’Did my father place you here,’’ the now extra young king wondered, ‘’because of last month’s assassin?’’

‘’Yes Sire, he did. I also have to inform you that Uther is away visiting the King of Nemeth and will not return for the next few weeks,’’ Leon lied smoothly. At this news Arthur seemed to brighten.

‘’Can we play hide and seek?’’ the boy asked. “Or perhaps tag? I’m very good at tag.’’

‘’Tag seems like a very good idea Sire, but perhaps you’d like some breakfast first?’’ Merlin set the tray with food down on the blankets of Arthur’s bed.

Arthur scarfed down his food in his excitement to play tag instead of sitting through boring lectures. He pointed his fork at Leon, ‘’You look like a friend of mine, he’s the son of one of the nobles closeby, he’s called Leon, what’s your name?’’

‘’Um, I’m his cousin. My name is Llewod. Leon and my aunt and uncle are out riding, so there not here, sadly,’’ Leon stuttered to the made up explanation. 

Gwaine chuckled, ‘’Right, Llewod, let’s not bore the Prince any longer and start with ourgame of tag. Two rules; one, stay inside the castle. Two, no running with pointy objects, I’m not patching you up if you get hurt.’’

Arthur nodded and dashed out of the bed. He bumped into Merlin, ‘’You’re it!’’ he shouted and sprinted into the hallway.

Merlin simply shrugged, punched Gwaine in the arm as a form of tagging and ran after Arthur. The remaining knights shared a look and sprinted off, leaving Gwaine in the now empty room. The knight groaned loudly and walked out of the room in search of one of the others.

It turned out that both Merlin and Arthur were very good at tag. Arthur because he knew the castle perfectly, Merlin because of his ridiculously long legs. Percival and Leon were both terrible, although this was partly because they didn’t try very hard. Elyan was very good at sneaking around the castle and popped up behind people when they didn’t expect it. Most of the castle staff had quickly realized it was in their best interest to keep to the walls during the game to avoid run ins. One of the younger messenger boys seemed to have forgotten this, which led to the scene of Merlin sitting on the floor in a hallway, a crying Arthur in his arms and the dazed messenger boy sitting next to him, a pile of letters abandoned on the floor.

Gwaine, who had simply followed the sound of crying, collected the letters and gave them to the messenger who ran off with them. ‘’I told you, I wasn’t patching you up if you got hurt. Luckily for you Merlin here is the Physician's assistant.’’

Arthur hiccuped, ‘’Really?’’ Merlin nodded and made a show of checking Arthur for bruises, the boy had nothing but Merlin wasn’t about to tell him this because Arthur might start crying again.

‘’Please don’t tell the king,’’ the boy mumbled,’’ I’m not allowed to play tag in the castle. Uther says I cause a distur-, dis-, a mess whenever I do that. When I cause a mess he gets mad.’’ The boy looked genuinely frightened at this and while Merlin’s heart melted at the sight, Gwaine only felt anger at the late king.

Merlin kissed the top of the boy’s head, like Hunith used to do whenever Merlin got upset, ‘’We won’t tell the king. It’s alright, you don’t mean to make a mess and it was easily solved.’’

Gwaine spotted Elyan, Percival and Leon coming round the corner, ‘’Hey, why don’t we do a calmer activity, so there is no chance of making a mess,’’ he spoke, loud enough for the approaching knights to hear,. “What if we baked cookies or honeycakes instead?’’

‘’I love honey cakes!’’ Arthur exclaimed, the accident entirely forgotten. Merlin set the boy on his shoulders and they took of towards the kitchen.

Leon glared at Gwaine. The man wasn’t a child but was as irresponsible as one.

\--

‘’Arthur no! Don’t eat the dough, we need it to make the honeycakes.’’

‘’Gwaine stop eating the honey damn it!’’

‘’Llewod, you can’t curse in front of the prince, he’s a child! You are such a bad influence.’’

‘’Gwaine, I will strangle y-’’

‘’Is something burning?’’ Gwen entered the kitchen, she had heard that Arthur had been turned into a child and wanted to see how adorable her husband was as a kid.

‘’Oh shit.’’

‘’Language, Percival, there are young ears here and-’’

‘’Gwaine, shut up.’’

Arthur hopped down from where he was sitting on the counter and skipped over to Gwen, flour dusted his hair and a bit of dough clinged to his face, ‘’Who are you,. Are you a lady? Or perhaps a princess? You look like a princess.’’

Gwen ruffled the boy’s hair, ‘’Yeah, I’m a princess, but don’t tell anyone okay? I’m in disguise.’’

‘’Why?’’

‘’Because my father wanted me to marry a troll, so I ran away. One day however, I will marry a very handsome prince.’’

‘’Like me?’’

‘’Yes darling, like you.’’ She looked up at the knights and Merlin, who were frantically trying to put out a small fire. She took Arthur’s hand in hers, ‘’Come, let’s see if any of those honeycakes survived.’’

None of the honeycakes had survived the fire, but luckily for them the kitchen staff had made some earlier that morning. Merlin, Arthur and Gwen went out to the courtyard to eat while the knights cleaned up the kitchen after the cook yelled at them for several minutes. It was a known rule that under no circumstances the king was allowed in the kitchen. When Gwaine had remarked that Arthur was technically a prince at the moment she had glared at him.

‘’I’m technically a cook, but I bet I can find other uses for these knives. Care to find out?’’

After this they had cleaned up the kitchen without complaint. Once they were finished they joined Gwen, Arthur and Merlin in the courtyard. Merlin and Gwen made up stories of Gwen’s travels before she came to Camelot as a runaway princess and Gwaine took the opportunity to take a nap. At some point Elyan convinced Merlin and Arthur to braid flowers in Gwen’s hair, Percival carved a small horse out of a piece of wood. Leon simply watched, he had never seen the king behave this calmly as a child. 

A servant brought them lunch and once they had eaten Arthur insisted on giving Gwen a tour of the castle. The tour was given from on top of Merlin’s shoulders because _up here he can see things better._ Gwaine said Merlin was simply Arthur’s favorite. Arthur denied this; there was no way he could have a favorite who wore a neckerchief.

\--

It seemed that once again bedtime was the most eventful. Arthur was, just as Leon had been, very energetic for a kid that was supposed to go to sleep.

‘’It’s way too early! I’m the prince and if I say I don’t have to sleep I don’t have to!’’ A pillow was launched at Elyan’s face.

The knight threw one back. Arthur dodged and it hit Percival. The taller knight laughed and threw it back.

‘’Oh dear,’’ Merlin sighed before he was pushed over into a heap of blankets by Gwaine.

The pillowfight raged on for some time and at the end Arthur chambers looked like a battlefield without the dead bodies. At this point Leon was very tired and more than done with Arthur’s antics.

‘’Llewod, please tell me that that vaguely human shaped creature under the pillow you’re sitting on is not the prince.’’

‘’This is vaguely human shaped creature under this pillow is not the prince.’’

Gwaine shoved Leon off the bed, Arthur gasped for air, ‘’Treason!’’ he screamed. ‘’Your cousin is way better than you.’’ The young boy pouted at the blond haired knight.

Merlin started laughing. Of all people Leon was the least likely to commit treason. The others soon joined in. Tiny Arthur with mussed up hair and a pout was too adorable not to laugh at.

‘’Stop laughing,’’ commanded the prince. “You can’t laugh at me. I am your prince.’’

‘’Calm down. Tell you what, I sing you a lullaby and then we’ll all go to sleep,’’ Gwaine offered.

‘’What’s a lullaby?’’

‘’Um, it’s a, it’s a song people sing, before you go to sleep. Kind of like a goodnight story?’’ Merlin tried to explain. No one had sung Arthur a lullaby before?

Arthur stared at them, a confused look in his eyes, ‘’Okay. I knew that. I know a lot of things. Geoffrey, the librarian says I’m really smart,’’ the young boy blurted.

‘’It’s fine Arthur,’’ soothed Merlin as he tucked Arthur into bed. He nodded at Gwaine who sat down on the edge at Arthur’s feet. 

The knight leaned against the bedpost and started humming a tune.Elyan and Percival quickly settled down, dragging Leon down to the floor with them. Gwaine started singing.

_‘’When we woke up  
The world was figured out  
Beyond the beauty we’ve dreamt about.  
This brilliant light is brighter than we’ve known,  
Without our darkness to prove it so.  
Still, we can’t help but examine it,  
To add our question marks to periods.  
At the foot of our bed, we found an envelope,_

_You’re enough, you’re enough, you are enough.  
These little words, somehow they’re changing us.  
You’re enough, you’re enough, you are enough.  
So we let our shadows fall away like dust.’’_

Merlin combed his fingers through Arthur hair. The young king was almost asleep. Leon stared at the scene, mouth hanging open. Had Gwaine also sung for him? Percival and Elyan grinned at the older knight. Gwaine closed his eyes and continued.

_‘’When we grew up,  
Our shadows grew up too.  
But they’re just old ghosts  
That we grow attached to.  
The tragic flaw is that they hide the truth,_

_That you’re enough, you’re enough, you’re enough.  
I promise you’re enough, you’re enough, you’re enough.  
I promise you’re enough, you’re enough, you’re enough.  
I promise you._

_You’re enough, you’re enough, you’re enough, you are enough.  
These little words, somehow they’re changing us.  
You’re enough, you’re enough, you are enough.  
So we let our shadows fall away like dust.  
You’re enough, you’re enough, you are enough.  
These little words, somehow they’re changing us.  
Let it go, let it go, you are enough.  
So we let our shadows fall away like dust.’’_

‘’That was really pretty. Will you sing another one tomorrow?’’ Arthur murmured, Gwaine smiled.

‘’Of course my prince.’’

‘’There won’t be a tomorrow,’’ hissed Leon, Gwaine shook his head.

‘’He doesn’t have to know,’’ he whispered back. “Goodnight Arthur.’’

They got no response, save for a soft snore. Merlin chuckled softly and sat down on his cot.

‘’Perhaps we should save discussing everything that happens while one of you is a kid for after this is all over? That sorcerer said you had to tell each other about your past and the secrets you hold, I doubt any of you want to tell such tales twice so we should wait until everyone is grown up and can explain themselves,’’ Merlin decided.

The other knights nodded. That seemed like a good idea. They told each other goodnight and went to sleep, wondering who would be a child tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leon is apparently irish for lion. Llewod is welsh for lion. I am very original.
> 
> The song is You are enough by Sleeping at last.


	4. Percival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘’I didn’t expect him to be so, quiet, polite.’’
> 
> ‘’He’s a peasant Arthur, not a barbarian. ''

Percival woke up on a bed that wasn't his, in a room he didn't recognize surrounded by four strangers sleeping on cots and a fifth asleep in the fanciest bed he had ever seen. He slid off the cot and walked around the room before stopping in front of a tall man with black hair and very large ears, he shook the man's shoulder.

‘’Excuse me, Sir,’’ the boy mumbled, ‘’but could you please wake up?’’

Merlin blinked, hs vision still hazy from sleep and stared at a young blonde boy. Seeing as both Leon and Arthur already had been kids and they were rapidly running out of blonds Merlin figured this was Percival. The servant sat up and looked around, seeing he and Percival were the only ones awake.

‘’My name is Merlin,’’ he told the boy, ‘’can you tell me your name?’’

‘’It’s Percival Sir. If you don’t mind me asking, where are we? This isn’t my home.’’

‘’You’re in Camelot, kid,’’ Gwaine butted in, lifting his head from his pillow, his hair a mess. ‘’And it is way too early, so please keep it down.’’ He rolled over so his back was turned to them.

‘’Don’t mind him, Gwaine doesn’t like getting up early. I’m Elyan, it’s nice to meet you Percival,’’ Elyan held out his hand, Percival looked at it, not understanding the gesture.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds when a maid came in with breakfast. They ate in silence. Percival ate quietly and with more grace than was expected of a peasant and although some of the food seemed to confuse him greatly he thanked all of them.

‘’If it’s okay for me to ask, what am I doing here in Camelot?’’ he mumbled, not daring to look up at any of the knights.

‘’It’s a new program from the king. He heard a lot of families in the outer villages don’t have enough food to feed themselves, so any kid who wished it could come to Camelot and they’re taught to be a servant for a week. It’s fully paid and you get food from the castle, after a week you decide if you want to stay,’’ Gwaine quickly made up a lie. “You must have forgotten; it was quite late when you arrived last night.’’

‘’Oh. Alright Sir, what is my first task of the day?’’

The knights looked at each other, unsure what to do. They should have made up some plan beforehand.

‘’Do you like horses Percival?’’ Merlin asked, and the boy nodded enthusiastically. “Well, would you like to help me in the stables? The horses have to be fed and groomed today, and if the nobles allow it we can even take some for a short ride.’’

‘’I’d love to sir,’’ he walked to the door but stopped there and looked back. “Uhm, which way is the stables?’’

\--

After the chaos Arthur and Leon had created, Percival was a nice change. The boy was kind and polite and incredibly shy. The horses seemed to love him almost as much as he loved them. Teyrnon and Hengroen, Arthur’s stallion, stopped their playfight when the boy was near and Llamrei, Merlin’s mare, kept nuzzling his hair. Pryderi for once stood still enough for someone to brush her. Merlin knew that the horses all liked adult Percival, but they seemingly all adopted the child version of the knight as soon as he walked into the stables.

‘’There, all of them have been fed and groomed. Shall we take one of them out for a walk?’’ Merlin set the equipment down. “Go on, choose one.’’

Percival walked around the stables. He hesitated in front of Llamrei but then moved on, disappearing further into the stables. At the end of the stables, the work horses and some of the older horses were stalled. These were often cared for last and only had a small paddock to graze in. Percival stopped in front of a huge dappled gray stallion.

‘’What’s his name?’’

‘’That’s Oisín. He used to be a workhorse, but he’s too old for that now.’’

‘’Can I ride him?’’

Merlin looked at the others, ‘’I don’t know Percival; we don’t have a saddle for Oisín.’’

‘’That’s not a problem. Fionn, my dad’s workhorse doesn’t have a saddle either,’’ Percival babbled as he approached the horse to give him an apple,. “Do you have a halter or a bridle we can put on him?’’

Elyan grabbed a halter and they led the horse outside. Gwaine lifted the boy on Oisín who looked back the the boy and shook his mane as a greeting. They tied a leash to the halter so Oisín wouldn’t run away and set off. Percival held some of the horse’s mane in his hands for stability but was for a peasant surprisingly capable of staying on the animal. They guided him around the castle and some parts of the lower town, which prompted some amused looks from the town’s people. Elyan and Gwaine told him stories about heroic knightly deeds, every once in a while Leon butted in with a story about how a troll was queen once, or how a goblin had caused havoc in Camelot. Percival mostly stayed quiet but nodded along at the right moments and asked a few questions.

Arthur and Merlin walked a little way behind the knights, engrossed in their own conversation.

‘’I didn’t expect him to be so, quiet, polite.’’

‘’He’s a peasant, Arthur, not a barbarian. He may not know how to write, but he’s used to asking politely. Unlike you nobles we can’t command people to get something for us. The quietness is uncommon, even for a peasant kid, but this is Percival we’re talking about, maybe he was always quiet.’’

‘’So you’re saying that taking care of Percival, Elyan and Gwaine will be a lot easier than Leon?’’

‘’Probably. But every child brings its own challenges, so we can’t be entirely sure. I have a feeling Gwaine will be just as impossible as you and Leon were, but Gwen said that Elyan was rather mature for a kid.’’

‘’Sire,’’ Leon called, grabbing their attention, ‘’perhaps it is a good idea to get some lunch? It’s past noon already.’’

Arthur nodded and they returned to the stables. After Percival had said goodbye to Oisín, and pet every other horse in the stables, they set of to the castle. Destination; the kitchens.

\--

The cook wasn’t very happy to see the group. In the last two days they had ransacked her kitchen, caused a foodfight and then almost burned down the kitchens.

She waved a spoon at them, ‘’What do you lot want now?’’ she sighed. “Lunch was half an hour ago.’’

Percival walked up to her, ‘’Excuse me ma'am, we’re very sorry we’re late. It’s my fault really, I wanted to take Oisín out for a walk,’’ the boy stammered. ‘’I don’t suppose you still have something left over?’’

The cook practically melted; no one was able to resist Percival’s big wonderfilled eyes. She smiled and ruffled his hair.

‘’Of course you can have some lunch dear,’’ she said as she grabbed some bread and fruits and put them in a basket, which she handed to Merlin. “Here, you can have something extra.’’ She grinned and pushed a honeycake in the boy’s hands.

‘’Now shoo, I need to make dinner for the entire castle and can’t afford distractions.’’

She waved them off, glalring shortly at both Leon and Arthur, a silent warning not to mess with her kitchen. Percival giggled as they left the kitchen, happily skipping along the hallway.

‘’What’s my next task?’’

‘’I think we deserve a bit of a break. We could watch the knights train?’’

‘’A better idea is that Percival watches, while you join in training for once, Gwaine.’’

‘’You’re no fun, Leon.’’

\--

Unlike Leon, Percival didn’t want to learn any fighting techniques but he did like watching the knights train. The other knights, who by now knew of the sorcerer and the enchantment, decided that the tiny Percival was the best thing in the world and held a mini-tournament to impress him. Loud cheers from the watching knights, and the occasional servants and ladies who passed by filled the air. Merlin wove another flowercrown for whoever the victor would be. Anytime a knight lost they’d do so dramatically and everytime Percival went to check if they weren’t really hurt.

Arthur was called away at some point due to council business but returned quickly and brought Gwen with him. Percival was absolutely mesmerized by Gwen’s curly hair and got distracted. This kind of bummed the knights out but they continued their tournament because everything was better than Sir Leon’s training drills. In the end Feirefiz won the final battle from Galahad and was crowned victor with a tiny flowercrown by Percival. The knight acted as if this was a huge honour, which made the child giggle.

Feirefiz then asked if Percival would like to accompany all the knights to dinner which, after a quick glance back and an approval nod of Gwaine, the boy happily agreed to.

Dinner was very enjoyable, in comparison to the times with Leon and Arthur. Percival politely joined conversations when his opinion was asked and seemed to have better table manners than the average knight. Part of the meal was spend showing off types of fruit and meat to Percival who happily tried a bite of everything and declared all of it delicious.

After dinner he shyly asked if they could go by the kitchens again so he could thank the cook, which earned him another hair ruffle, first from Gwaine and then from the cook, and another honeycake. The boy shared his treat with Gwen as they gave a tour around the battlements. The view of the town as the sun went down was stunning.

‘’I wonder what my parents are doing now,’’ the boy spoke. “The fields sometimes seem magical when the sun goes down. Mom says that at midsummer you can even see the fairies dance above the grain, but I’ve never seen them.’’

‘’I bet you’ll see them someday,’’ Gwaine laughed. “Just keep looking and you’ll find some.’’ The knight wondered how long the boy still had with his parents, how long this kid had until that innocence in his eyes was taken away. ‘’Come on, let’s get you to bed.” He pushed to boy towards Arthur’s chambers.

‘’Will you tell a bedtime story?’’

‘’I don’t know any good bedtime stories,’’ Gwaine stammered, and Percival’s face fell. “But, but I know a song you might like! Would that be okay?’’

Percival nodded excitedly and once they got to Arthur’s chambers immediately settled down. The other knights put their swords and chainmail away and sat down on their beds. Gwaine started humming a tune. Instead of starting to sing right away he wandered around the room before stopping at Percival’s cot and tucking the boy in.

_‘’You taught me the courage of stars before you left  
How light carries on endlessly, even after death  
With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite  
How rare and beautiful it is to even exist’’_

_‘’I couldn’t help but ask  
For you to say it all again  
I tried to write it down  
But I could never find a pen  
I’d give anything to hear  
You say it one more time  
That the universe was made  
Just to be seen by my eyes’’_

_‘’I couldn’t help but ask  
For you to say it all again  
I tried to write it down  
But I could never find a pen  
I’d give anything to hear  
You say it one more time  
That the universe was made  
Just to be seen by my eyes’’_

_‘’With shortness of breath, I’ll explain the infinite  
How rare and beautiful it truly is that we exist.’’_

The knight went quiet, during the song he had walked back to his cot, where he was sitting now.‘’Goodnight Percival.’’

‘’Goodnight Sirs Gwaine, Elyan, Leon, Arthur, Merlin. Being a servant in Camelot is a lot of fun, thank you,’’ the boy whispered.

Tomorrow either Gwaine or Elyan would be turned into a kid. Gwaine hoped it wouldn’t be him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song is Saturn by Sleeping at last
> 
> Yes, I'm still using names from celtic mythology and Arthurian legends whenever I want, please don't be offended. However if you do get offended, feel free to yell at me in the comments or on tumblr


	5. Elyan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘’Wait, how do we make sure he stays here once we find him?’’
> 
> ‘’Entertain him!’’
> 
> ‘’How do we do that?’’

Gwaine was the first to wake up. Someone hadn’t closed the curtains correctly last night and the sun shone directly in his eyes. He groaned and sat up. Seeing as he realized who and where he was he figured Elyan was the kid today. This meant that either today was today and he’d be a kid tomorrow, or today was actually tomorrow and he’d been a kid yesterday. He hoped it was the former. He went around the room whacking the others, save Elyan, in the face with his pillow to wake them up.

Arthur did not take kindly to being woken up by a pillow in his face. Before he could loudly exclaim his annoyance, however, Leon shoved another pillow in his face and told him to be quiet. Gwen appeared in the doorway with breakfast. They’d figured that both Elyan and Gwaine would react with confusion to servants, like Percival had, and decided Gwen was the safest option.

‘’Who is it today?’’ she asked, setting the tray down on Arthur’s table.

‘’Elyan,’’ grumbled Gwaine. “Is it today, or is it actually tomorrow?’’

‘’What?’’

‘’You know, was I a kid yesterday, or will I be one tomorrow?’’

‘’You haven’t been a kid yet Gwaine,’’ Leon said, getting up from his cot. “So, what’s the lie we’re telling Elyan?’’

Percival shrugged and stuffed some bread in his mouth. Leon stared at him, wondering where and when he unlearned the manners the young boy had displayed yesterday. They all ate their breakfast in silence, trying to come up with an idea. Elyan would probably ask about family, and since he lived in Camelot but wasn’t nobility there was no reason for them to have simply vanished. The door creaked, and Gwaine looked up.

‘’We really need a good, convincing lie,’’ he said, ‘’because Elyan just left.’’

‘’Wait, what?’’

‘’Shit.’’

They all scrambled to their feet and stumbled out into the hallway. There was no sign of Elyan; the boy had vanished.

‘’What do we do now?’’

‘’We? You are going to find my brother! He might know Camelot, but we never entered the castle much. He could easily get lost,’’ Gwen scolded them. “Check everywhere, the stables, kitchens, training field, throne room, everywhere. When you find him return to Arthur’s chambers. We’ll see each other here in an hour.’’

‘’Wait, how do we make sure he stays here once we find him?’’

‘’Entertain him!’’

‘’How do we do that?’’

They got no answer. Gwen had disappeared down a hallway, and Merlin ran after her. The king and his three knights stared at each other. They divided the rooms, Leon took the training field, Arthur the throne room and Percival would check the kitchens since he was the only one the cook allowed there, which left Gwaine with the stables. They split up, each went to their own part of the castle. Gwaine stayed in the hallway, shaking his head. 

‘’Where, of all places could the _son of the blacksmith_ go to, after waking up in the castle?’’

A servant that passed by looked at him strangely. Gwaine paid him no mind. People often stared at him like he was a freak; he had been a wanderer for a good part of his life after all. He walked out of the castle and instead of going left to the stables, he continued into the lower town. Although Gwen was queen now she had kept the house in the lower town, as a reminder of who she used to be.

He passed the front door and entered the forge. He founded Elyan there, wandering around, running his fingers over the bare walls, as if he was looking for something.

‘’Hi kid,’’ Gwaine said, startling Elyan, who turned around and looked at him wide-eyed. “Relax, you’re not in trouble. I’m Gwaine.’’ 

He held out his hand, Elyan stared at it, then at Gwaine, cautiously he came closer and shook his hand.

‘’I’m Elyan. Where are my dad and sister? What happened? All his sketches and materials are gone.’’

Mentally Gwaine noted that Elyan hadn’t mentioned his mother, which meant she had either left the family, or she had died when he was even younger. Gwaine looked around the shop, trying to come up with a lie.

‘’He and your sister left yesterday evening, don’t you remember? He got a very important task and took your sister with him so she could help. He left you in charge of the house. You remember the lady with the long brown hair? She brought all of us breakfast, if we’re quick there might be some left.’’

Elyan looked suspicious at first but brightened at the promise of free food. He picked up a dagger that was lying around and stuck it in his belt, he snuck a glance at Gwaine to see the long haired knight’s reaction but Gwaine ignored him. If the kid wanted a knife, Gwaine wasn’t stopping him. The two walked back to Arthur’s chambers in silence. Elyan stayed to the sides of the corridor, knowing that as a peasant he wasn’t supposed to wander in the castle.

Arthur’s room was empty when they arrived. Gwaine sat down and watched Elyan who shoveled food into his mouth as if he hadn’t eaten in two days. He hoped it was just because the boy was growing and not due to too little food. They spend the rest of the hour like that, waiting for the others to arrive.

‘’Oh, you found him.’’ Gwen pushed the door open, behind her Merlin and Leon were visible.

‘’Yeah, I found him in the forge. He’d forgotten that his father and sister left for an errand yesterday.’’ Gwaine informed them of the lie he had made. He and Gwen shared a look and she nodded.

‘’Oh how you’ve grown Elyan, but then again you were only four the last time I saw you.’’ She smiled. Elyan stared at her in return.

‘’I’m sorry ma’am, but I don’t think I remember you…’’

‘’Oh! My name is Rhiannon, I’m one of your father’s cousins. I used to live on the border with Caerleon but moved here for work. I arrived this morning. Your father said I could stay with you three until I found a house of my own.’’

Arthur looked at his wife and his roguish knight, since when could they lie so well?

‘’Father must have forgotten to mention it then. Should I help you set up in the house?’’ the boy offered. Gwen smiled at him and nodded. Elyan got up and walked out the door again.

\--

Elyan quickly set up a bed in Gwen’s old house. Sometimes he asked them a question they couldn’t answer, like why they were all there, or why specific possessions had seemingly vanished in thin air. Once the boy was finished Gwen asked him if he could get a chicken from the coop so she could make lunch.

‘’He’ll be busy with that for some time. He’s terrible at catching chickens.’’

‘’Okay, just, quick question, where’s your mom?’’ Leon asked, Gwen’s eyes went flat.

‘’She died when I was five. Elyan was eight.’’

‘’I’m sorry for your loss.’’

Gwen shrugged, ‘’It was a long time ago, I barely remember what she looked like.’’  
The door opened again and Elyan appeared, ‘’Miss Rhiannon, I can’t seem to catch any chickens. They keep running off.’’

Gwen chuckled, ‘’Come, I’ll show you how to catch a chicken.’’ She rose out of her seat and motioned for the others to follow, ‘’You all might learn something. I doubt that any of you, Merlin, Elyan and myself excluded, can cook.’’

Gwen managed to catch a chicken easily, because unlike Elyan she didn’t chase it. She simply held some feed in her hand and waited until one was close enough to grab it. The two siblings, although one was unaware of this, swiftly made lunch, during which Elyan questioned Gwen about where she lived and how his aunts and uncles were. Apparently the answers were satisfactory because the boy didn’t storm out again.

‘’So, what do we do now?’’ 

\--

Since they were knights, they didn’t know many activities to do in their spare time, mainly because they didn't have much spare time. Going on a hunt with an eleven year old who couldn’t ride a horse didn’t seem like the brightest idea so that was quickly shut down. To Gwaine’s dismay bringing the boy to a tavern and learning him how to gamble was also out of the question. This left them with two options; ransack the kitchen, or teach Elyan how to fight. Since neither Arthur or Leon wanted to get yelled at even more by the cook they decided to bring him to the training grounds.

Elyan, they realized, was not a natural swordsman. He stumbled around and couldn’t seem to hold the sword properly. Elyan claimed this was because the sword wasn’t properly made and therefore imbalanced. Arthur wasn’t sure that was an actual thing but he figured the son of a blacksmith would know such things. After the tenth time Elyan dropped the sword he huffed in annoyance and pulled out the dagger he picked up in the forge.

‘’Can’t I just use a dagger?’’

‘’Is it blunt?’’ Gwaine asked, and Elyan nodded. “Then sure, just try not to stab me with it or Gaius will be mad. Apparently there is a maximum amount of stab wounds I’m allowed to get in a month or he’ll pull me off active duty.’’

Elyan fought a lot better with the dagger. He practically danced around Gwaine, avoiding the practice sword the knight was using with ease and tripped the man. The other knight roared with laughter. Gwaine grinned; the boy fought well. He wondered where Elyan learned that. He’d have to ask once everyone was grownup again.

The other knights fought with Elyan too. He managed to take down Leon, but Arthur overpowered him without much trouble. Percival just picked him up and held him in the air, much to Elyan’s dismay. Gwen and Merlin sat in the grass, wondering why men liked to fight so much. Gwen understood that holding a sword could make someone feel powerful, as she had fought and trained herself, but the knights seemed to do nothing else. Merlin believed it was just incredibly stupid. Although he did have magic to protect himself, so he figured his opinion probably counted less.

Elyan sat down next to them in the grass,panting, unused to the training the knights did everyday. He fidgeted a bit, opened his mouth and closed it again. 

‘’What is it? you can ask us anything.’’

‘’I was wondering, do either of you have a piece of paper and perhaps a pencil or a piece of charcoal?’’ he asked shyly, ’’Some of the knights swords are unbalanced, and if I draw up some designs now my dad could make them once he comes back. If he makes weapons for the crown he’ll surely get more offers,’’ he explained. 

Gwen smiled and nodded, Merlin ran off to grab some from Gaius’s room and quickly came back. He also handed some to Gwen, knowing she liked to draw.

The afternoon passed calmly, Elyan and Gwen spend the time drawing, the knights trained and Merlin finally caught up some sleep. He was often up in the middle of the night to protect the citadel, or Arthur, or both and the last week had been pleasantly uneventful. Perhaps that old sorcerer had made a pact with all the other magic users not to attack Camelot for the entire week. Whatever it was, Merlin was thankful for the quiet. 

\--

They ate dinner in Gwen’s old house where Gwaine showed them that, yes he did known how to cook. Just not very well. Due to helpful intervention from Merlin and Gwen the meal was still edible. 

The problem came when the sun went down. Elyan wanted to stay in his and Gwen’s house and the knights couldn’t seem to come up with a good excuse about why this was a bad idea. In the end they gave up and figured they could just carry him back once he was asleep.

‘’Gwaine, can you sing another song?’’

‘’Wait.‘’ Gwen looked up, ‘’Gwaine can sing?’’

‘’He’s quite good at it too.’’

Gwaine stared at them, he wasn’t going to sing for Elyan. The lad was eleven, and behaved as if he was a lot older than that, he’d probably be offended if Gwaine sung him a lullaby as if he was a child.

‘’I doubt that Elyan would wa-’’ he started, but the boy looked at him, a silent plea in his eyes. The kid probably hadn’t been sung to since his mom died. Gwaine nodded at him.

‘’Alright then, settle down I guess.’’

Gwaine sat on the table while the rest took up positions on the floor and Elyan sat down on the bed in the corner in the room. Instead of humming Gwaine started to sing immediately.

_‘’I believe in nothing  
Not the earth and not the stars  
I believe in nothing  
Not the day and not the dark_

_I believe in nothing  
But the beating of our hearts_

_I believe in nothing  
One hundred suns until we part  
I believe in nothing  
Not in sin and not in God_

_I believe in nothing  
Not in peace and not in war  
I believe in nothing  
But the truth in who we are’’_

At the end of the song Elyan was asleep, Percival picked the boy up and carried him to Arthur’s room where they put him on one of the cots. All eyes turned to Gwaine, who backed up a bit.

‘’Any advice on how to deal with you as a kid,’’ Merlin questioned. “Or will you be polite like Percival was?’’

Gwaine looked away and shrugged. “Just try to keep me alive.’’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm running out of ideas of what they could do so this chapter took a bit longer than normal.
> 
> I hope you guys still like it.
> 
> Song is 100 suns by 30 seconds to mars


	6. Gwaine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ''Gwaine put the knife down.''

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saved Gwaine for last, he's my favorite which means I put him through more angst and sadness and all. He has the knights and Merlin and Gwen now though, so he'll be fine.

Leon woke up due to someone shaking his shoulder. A boy with dark brown eyes and messy brown hair glared at him. There was a bruise on his cheek and his lip was bleeding sluggishly.

‘’Who the fuck are you,’’ the kid growled. “Where am I and why am I here?’’

‘’My name is Leon, you’re in Camelot and-’’ he shrieked, which he’d later deny, ‘’could you please get that dagger out of my face? Where did you even get a dagger?’’

‘’Why,’’ the boy repeated, ‘’am I here?’’

By now Arthur had woken up due to all the commotion. The man sat up, looked around, and saw that Gwaine’s cot was empty and the kid that was now threatening his knight.

‘’Gwaine, put the knife down.’’

The boy whirled around, for a split second Arthur saw fear in his eyes before it vanished and was replaced with anger, ‘’Who are you? He won’t pay you, you know.’’

‘’I’m Arthur, and I’d very much appreciate it if you’d put do-’’

‘’No, you’re not. You said this was Camelot. This room is big enough to be of a king, a prince or some other type of royalty. _Prince_ Arthur of Camelot is a child. You, are not a child.’’

Gwen entered the room with breakfast, ‘’Good morning everyone!’’ she yelled.

Gwaine jumped and darted over to Merlin, grabbing the man by his neckerchief and put his dagger to Merlin’s neck. ‘’Don’t move or I’ll cut his throat,’’ he growled.

‘’Sure, just, could we have breakfast first?’’

\--

It took them at least ten minutes to calm Gwaine down enough to join them for breakfast and even then he sat in the chair the furthest away from them and kept the dagger in his hand at all time. He ignored all their questions and simply glared or growled at them whenever they asked something he really didn’t like. The only good part of this all was that Gwaine didn’t ask them any questions they couldn’t answer.

Gwen stood up, ‘’So, what are we doing today?’’

Gwaine’s eyes flickered over to her, suspicion clouding his gaze, then he looked back at the other’s, waiting for their reaction. The knights were silent, it was out of the question that they dragged him to the trainingfield since he might try to stab someone and they were still banned from the kitchen.

“Do you like horses,” Percival asked the boy. “Would you like to help us take care of them today?”

Leon coughed, trying to stifle a laugh. Percival looked at him in confusion, what was wrong with that idea? Most kids liked horses. Percival knew he had loved horses when he was younger, especially his dad’s horse Fionn, who had been his favorite. Gwaine looked up at the knight, eyes partly hidden by his long hair, he stared at him for a few seconds and nodded.

“Horses are nice,” he declared. “They’re a lot better than people.”

And with that it was decided. They went to the stables, for the second time that week although this was unknown to Percival and Gwaine. They made their rounds in the stables, feeding Llamrei, Hengroen, Teyrnon and Pryderi. Further back they passed Oisín, Percival stopped for a second to pet the old workhorse, although he didn’t know why he did this. Gwaine now wandered the stables aimlessly. It seemed he was looking for something, or someone but he didn’t know why. At some point the boy gave up and slumped on the floor next to Pryderi’s stable.

Merlin was about to tell him not to sit there, since Pryderi was very protective of his space, when the pony nuzzled the boy’s hair, eliciting a giggle from him. The knights all paused their work to stare at him. They hadn’t heard him laugh all morning. Gwaine seemed oblivious to the stares from other knights, his attention fully on the pony he was petting.

‘’Would you like to feed him an apple?’’ Gwen asked, startling the boy.

He looked up at her, eyes wide with fear and confusion, then he nodded eagerly.

‘’Yes please, ma’am,’’ he stammered, adding the _ma’am_ later as an afterthought.

Gwen walked away to find an apple and the knights continued their work. Every once in a while they could hear Gwaine giggle. The sound brought a smile to their lips.

When Gwen returned he was talking to the horse in hushed tones. She couldn’t hear what he was saying and as soon as he spotted her he stopped talking. His eyes flickered anxiously from her to the knights, but he stayed silent. It worried Gwen, that he barely talked, that the loud man she knew had been such a nervous and hostile child. They’d have to ask him about it, but only once he was an adult again. She doubted that asking this Gwaine anything would go well. The boy had a dagger, and didn’t seem afraid to use it.

She held her hand out, a shiny red apple in her palm, ‘’Here,’’ she whispered, ‘’but be careful, or Pryderi might take your fingers with it.’’

Gwaine took the apple, and with his knife cut it into tinier bits. He held one out on his hand to Pryderi, who, with an unusual calm from the pony, ate it without even trying to bite the boy’s fingers. Even Percival as a child had not managed to feed the little thing without getting snapped or kicked at, but here was Gwaine, the loudest of the knights, reduced to an aggressive twelve-year old feeding the pony as if it was the sweetest creature in the world.

Gwaine kept feeding the pony apple slices, although some he ate himself, but only when he thought no one was looking. Gwen noticed, confused by this behavior was walked over to Merlin, who was brushing Llamrei.

‘’Merlin, do you know anything of Gwaine’s background?’’

Merlin turned around, shaking his head, ‘’I’m sorry, I’m afraid I know very little. He said he was from Caerleon, but that’s all he told me,’’ he lied. He wasn’t sure if Gwaine would like it if he exposed his secret about his heritage.

Gwen sighed, looking over to Gwaine, who was busy pushing Pryderi away so the pony wouldn’t try to eat his hair, she said, ‘’It’s alright Merlin. I’m just worried. I don’t think his life was as easy as he tells us.’’

She turned away and faced the knights, who were by now all watching Gwaine interact with Pryderi instead of brushing their horses. ‘’Alright. I think it’s time for lunch, and it’s a beautiful day for a picnic.’’

\--

During the picnic Gwaine seemed to come out of his shell. He reacted whenever they addressed him and sometimes joined in their conversations. He still refused to answer any of their questions but this was a great improvement from the boy that had threatened Merlin this morning. What confused Leon was that the boy didn't seem fazed by any of the food like Percival and Elyan had been. Child Gwaine apparently knew etiquette, which was strange, since adult Gwaine sometimes acted like a barbarian..

At some point during their meal Gwaine had gotten distracted, and started weaving a crown out of blades of grass, every once in a while a daisy was added to it, the flowers probably resembled the jewels in a crown. Gwen watched the boy, who seemed fully absorbed in his project.

‘’What are you making?’’

Gwaine dropped the chain and looked up, a shocked expression on his face, ‘’Nothing. I wasn’t, I didn’t, I,’’ he stammered, shoving the grass and flowers away he stood up. “Lunch is over, what now?’’

Arthur looked up from where he was laying face down in the grass, Merlin had put some flowers in his hair but he seemed unaware of this, ‘’Now, I take a nap.’’

Gwaine raised an eyebrow at the man.

‘’We could play hide and seek,’’ Percival said.

‘’That’s a great idea.’’

The knights stood up, with Merlin pulled a complaining Arthur to his feet, and they walked to the castle. Gwaine followed them silently.

They came to a stop in the throne room, ‘’Alright, the only rule is, stay in the castle. Beyond that, hide wherever you want,’’ Gwen explained, ‘’Merlin you start as the seeker.’’

Merlin closed his eyes and started counting. The knights and Gwen scattered immediately. Gwaine looked around in wonder before vanishing down the corridor.

\--

Percival, Arthur and Leon were horrible at hide and seek. Percival was just too big to properly hide anywhere and Arthur and Leon couldn’t find any good hiding spots. There were of course plenty of good spots but those were dusty, so they refused to hide there. It took Merlin a while to find Gwen;she had hidden behind a rack of swords in the armory, but once they had found her she quickly told them Elyan’s spot; the last cell in the dungeons. Gwaine they found last, standing in the middle of Arthur’s room holding a sword.

‘’I don’t think you understand the concept of _hide_ and seek.’’

The boy jumped and whirled around, pointing the sword at them, ‘’You lied,’’ he growled.

‘’About what?’’

‘’This isn’t, this can’t be, it’s wrong,’’ he stammered. “It's all wrong. I’m not supposed to be here.” He looked around the room and, noticing the knights had all entered, he backed away to the window.

‘’Gwaine you need to breathe, calm down, ‘’ instructed Merlin, ‘’I’m not sure I understand what you mean.’’

‘’Uther is dead, ‘’ he blurted, ‘’but he can’t be dead. He,‘’ Gwaine pointed the sword at Arthur, ‘’is king. He’s supposed to be a child. It’s all wrong and you lied!’’

Merlin took a step towards the boy, ‘’Please calm down Gwaine, we can explain everything, just put the sw-’’

‘’No!’’ screamed Gwaine. “Don’t, don’t come any closer!’’

The knights froze. Gwaine took a couple of steps back, until his back hit the wall. He looked around the room, eyes wide in fear. He slammed his elbow into the window behind him, breaking the glass, dropped the sword and jumped out.

‘’We’re on the second floor,’’ Leon’s voice came from behind Merlin. “He just jumped out a window on the second floor.’’

Merlin and Gwen raced to the window, but instead of a mangled figure under the window they saw a small figure dashing through the courtyard. They both sighed; Gwaine was alive. He was, however, on the run, which was a problem on its own. Gwen turned and clapped in her hands. 

‘’Okay, he’s fine, but he ran off. We need to find him before he accidentally gets himself killed, or attacks someone with that dagger of his.’’

The knights nodded and Gwen started giving out orders for where to look. Merlin continued staring out the window.

‘’Why do they all run? Why couldn’t they all be polite, kind and shy kids like Percival? I am not qualified to deal with feral runaway children.”Merlin turned around, ‘’Arthur I want a day off after this. Or a pay raise. Preferably both.’’

Arthur laughed, ‘’You wish. Find Gwaine first, then we’ll talk.’’

\--

Gwaine was unfindable. They searched the castle, the training grounds, the stables, the kitchen. When they couldn’t find him they tried the lower town and the taverns. They boy seemed to have vanished into thin air. Disappointed they returned to the council chamber, where they found Geoffrey sitting in one of the chairs.

“I take it you haven’t found him yet, “ the older man spoke. “You might want to try the library. I’m not sure it’s him, but a boy with brown hair I didn’t recognize entered about half an hour ago.”

“Oh dear god, thank you so much Geoffrey,” Arthur led out a breath he was holding. “To the library. Try to stay quiet; we don’t want to startle him again.”

Quietly they entered the library and fanned out. Slowly, they searched the immense library.

“Guys, over here,” Gwen’s whispered voice came from the end of the library, “I found him, but be quiet.”

Silently they walked over to Gwen. She was staring at a person, sleeping on the floor surrounded by open books. The boy was curled up, his fingers clenched around a necklace. The knights came closer and Leon picked up a book.

“These are records about Caerleon nobility. He was looking for something, someone, but why?”

“I think I have the answer to that, “ Arthur said, picking up a different book and holding it out.

There, on the open page was family tree was drawn. On one side was the long deceased Lord Arawn, who had been Caerleon’s head knight decades ago. The man had been married to a lady named Anna, the two had had two children, a boy and a girl. According to the records after Arawn’s death Anna had remarried to a different lord, Loth, years later and had had two sons with him. According to these records Anna had died more than ten years ago, her daughter, the lady Clarrisant, a few years earlier. Her older son was reported missing a year after her death.

Now this all wasn’t very interesting, until Elyan pointed to a name. The oldest son of Lady Anna had been named Gwaine.

“Well, someone has a lot to explain tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the last of the knights!  
> next chapter will be them sharing secrets and explaining their pasts.
> 
> Some names are from Arthurian myths, some are from Celtic or Welsh mythology.


	7. Secrets told

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen sighed, ‘’If one of you doesn’t start talking on their own, I’ll decide who starts.’’

Gwen pushed the door to Arthur’s chambers open, several servants behind her carried trays with breakfast, silently they entered the room. She motioned for the servants to put the trays down, which they did, afterwards they left the room. Gwen sat down and watched her husband, the knights and Merlin sleep, the last few days had been hectic but Gwen was still happy it had happened. Most of the knights had been quite different as kids and she wondered what had happened in the years between. She watched as the knights woke up and joined her at the table. They ate in silence, as no one dared to talk. No one wanted to explain their entire life to the others.

Gwen sighed, ‘’If one of you doesn’t start talking on their own, I’ll decide who starts.’’

Leon, Percival and Elyan exchanged anxious looks. Arthur stared at Gwen. Gwaine kept his gaze trained on the table.

‘’Gwaine, you jumped out a window. Care to explain why?’’ Merlin asked, turning to the knight.

Gwaine looked up, ‘’One, I don’t remember doing that,’’ Gwaine started, ‘’and two, I’ll do it again if you try to pressure me into talking.’’ The last bit was practically growled at the manservant. The knight’s eyes were dark, although empty of any emotion.

‘’I’ll start,’’ Percival offered. Gwen gave him a smile and nodded at the knight. Although she very much wanted to hear Gwaine’s story, it’d be wise to avoid any more accidents with jumping out windows.

The knight looked around the room, took a deep breath, and began his tale.

\--

‘’I was born in a small village near the border. My family was poor but we were very happy. I had a younger sister, Scáthach. My dad was a farmer and we had a horse-’’

‘’Fionn, you told us that when you were a kid,’’ Elyan interrupted with a smile. Percival nodded.

‘’Fionn was the strongest horse in the entire village,. He was tall and broad and could pull a plow on his own. He was gorgeous with a golden coat. Several others in the village were jealous of my father because of it.’’ 

‘’When I,’’ Percival’s voice broke and he took a shuddering breath, ‘’When I was seventeen the village was attacked by bandits. They killed most of the men and took the women, they set all the houses on fire. I was out hunting and returned to a burned down and dead place. I searched for survivors but found no one. I found my father in the collapsed ruins of Fionn’s stable. He had tried to get the horse out, but the roof collapsed on top of them. I stayed in the village to give everyone a proper burial and then set out to find my mother and sister. I never found them, and I doubt they’re still alive.’’

The knight looked down at the table, distantly he realized he was crying, ‘’I wandered around for a while, my life had no real purpose. I acted as a fighter and laborer for hire until Lancelot found me. Then I met you all and gave me a goal.’’

Gwaine smiled at him. ‘’Did you ever see those fairies above the grainfields?’’

Percival laughed, ‘’Yeah I did, they stole my bread when I wasn’t looking. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.’’

The knights fell silent again. Percival’s tale was finished; who’d be next?

Leon looked around, ‘’I’ll go next,’’ he offered.

\--

‘’I’m the youngest in my family. I have two older brothers and an older sister, which meant that I would, will, never be a lord nor own any land. My father never paid much attention to me and my mother only cared about my sister, so I often felt alone as a child. I caused disturbances just so people would notice me. When I was eight my father told me of the knights of Camelot, and I figured if I could become a knight he’d be proud of me. From that day on all I wanted to be was a knight, so I trained whenever I could.’’

Leon smiled bitterly and shook his head, ‘’When I finally became a knight, it wasn’t all that I had hoped. I’ve done things in name of the crown that I’m not proud of. Things I regret. Deaths I regret.’’ Leon looked up at Arthur, ‘’Serving under you was not one of those things.’’

Arthur smiled at his knight. He was a good man, even if he didn’t believe it himself.

‘’You know,’’ Merlin piped up, ‘’only a good person would regret his deeds if he knew they were wrong. You may have made mistakes, but you are serving under Arthur and doing your best to correct them. I don’t know where your father is now, but I believe he’d be proud of you, and even if he isn’t, I am. You’re a good person, Leon.’’

Leon let out a weak laugh, ‘’I truly hope you’re right, but we’ll never know. The old man passed years ago.’’ The knight sighed, ''It haunts me, the attacks on the druid camps. It was the first time I truly dared to question what we were doing. Sometimes I still hear them screams. Those people were innocent, there were children there. Uther called it a war, against magic, against the druids, it wasn't a war, it was a massacre.’’

The knight looked around the table, ''Sometimes I wonder why I'm still alive. I've seen so many knights die, and somehow, by some miracle I'm still alive. Some days it feels more like a curse than a blessing''

''Fate has different things in store for all of us, and very few ever know that fate, we just have to hope we're on the right path,'' Merlin spoke. Arthur started at him, blinking slowly.

''Careful _Mer_ lin, or people may think you actually can think.''

They all laughed at this. Elyan and Arthur looked at each other, and the knight nodded at his king.

‘’I’ll go next,’’ Elyan spoke up, he looked at Gwen, an apology in his eyes, although Gwen didn’t know why, and started his story.

\--

‘’You all know I lived in Camelot before all of this with Gwen and our dad. Our mom died when I was eight and Gwen five. Our father couldn’t care for us and keep his job as a blacksmith at the same time so I had to, grow up, be an adult when all I wanted to be was a child. I missed our mom but I couldn’t afford to, since Gwen needed someone to be there for her. I did want to be a blacksmith, like Dad but, ‘’ he looked up at Gwen, ‘’I felt trapped in the life I had.’’

‘’When I was twenty I left, I packed up my stuff and left without saying goodbye. I wandered around, never stayed long in one place, switching jobs almost every two months. At some point I got involved with the wrong crowd and Cenred and Morgause locked me up in their castle. I missed so much in the years I was gone. Gwen got accused for sorcery, twice, and was almost executed. Dad died for a crime he didn’t commit and I wasn’t even here for his burial. I’ve been a worthless son and brother and Gwen I’m so so-’’

‘’Stop,’’ Gwen interrupted him. “You may have left, but you didn’t know what would happen. Yes, I was angry you weren’t here for father’s burial, but you needed time and space to become your own person. I’ve forgiven you a long time ago Elyan and I know that both Father and Mother would be proud of you. They both loved you; they loved you so much and they may not be here physically, but they remain in our hearts. They never left you and you never truly left us either.’’

Both Elyan and Gwen were crying at the end of Gwen’s speech. Gwen stood up and walked over to her brother, Elyan stood up as well and the siblings shared a hug. When the two sat down again everyone focused on Arthur and Gwaine, the former stared at Merlin and the latter didn’t look up, his gaze still on the table. After a long, awkward silence Arthur gave a sigh.

‘’I suppose I’ll have to talk now.’’

Gwaine shot the king a grateful look.

\--

‘’Uther was a,’’ Arthur paused for a second and swallowed, ‘’harsh father. I don’t think he ever recovered from my mother’s death. On most days, he was the king first, and my father second. He... I often disappointed him. He wanted a perfect heir, and I don’t think I ever reached his expectations.’’ Arthur looked up, meeting Merlin’s eyes, where an unspoken question lingered.

‘’He never hit me, but sometimes he threatened to, and there were days I feared him. I became stuck up, and rude, because I believed he’d be proud of me if I was. I believed him and everything he said blindly, but you all have shown me I was wrong.’’ He gestured to Gwen, Elyan, Percival and Gwaine. ‘’I don’t think Uther would be proud of the kingdom I made Camelot into, but that doesn’t matter because it’s my kingdom now and I rule it and not my father.’’ At this last bit Merlin smiled widely. Finally, the clotpole understood.

‘’You are a good king Sire,’’ Percival added,. ‘’I have seen many ransacked villages in the time that I wandered. Sometimes it were bandits, sometimes enemy armies and often no help came from Uther. I became a knight of Camelot under you, not Uther, because I know you are a just and righteous man. The people believe you will bring them a golden age of peace and prosperity.’’

‘’I thank you Percival. I only hope that the people’s hope in me is justified.’’

Merlin grinned a little, although this was missed by the others. He knew Arthur would bring a golden age. Oh if only Percival and Arthur knew how justified the people’s belief was.

Now everyone turned to Gwaine, who just glared back.

‘’Start talking Gwaine, and that’s an order.’’

‘’What’s there to tell?’’

Leon dumped the books they found last night on the table,’’Well you could start explaining this.’’

Gwaine paled, ‘’I don’t, I, I can’t,’’ the knight stammered

‘’You can, and you will Gwaine. Whatever you tell us, it will not leave this room and we will not judge you,’’ Arthur reassured the knight.

\--

‘’I’m not actually a commoner, or well, I wasn’t at birth. My parents were Caerleon nobles. A few weeks before I and my sister Clarrisant were born our father left for war. He knew it was a pointless war, and that it was likely he wouldn’t return, so he gave my mom his wedding ring.‘’ At this Gwaine held up his chain were the ring and pendant hung from. ‘’And then he left. A day after my sister and I were born she got the news he had died in battle. She asked king Caerleon for help but he refused, said he couldn’t help every widow. Arawn had been one of his greatest knights, and he did nothing to help us. My mother learned how to sew, and we lived off the land that came with our house. Sometimes we sold furniture when we really were desperate for money.’’

Gwaine looked up, meeting everyone’s gazes. They looked at him with various degrees of confusion. He hoped they weren’t too mad he had lied to them for so long.

‘’She remarried to Lord Loth when I was six. She didn’t love him but she didn’t have a choice; our only other option was starve on the streets. She gave him two sons, my half-brothers Gaheris and Gareth. I loved them both to bits. I was nine when Clarrisant died, we never learned how or why, but I doubt it was natural, Loth had always hated me and Clarrisant.’’ Gwaine stopped to wipe a few stray tears away.

‘’Mum went mad; she stopped being a mother and stayed in her rooms all day, I took care of Gaheris and Gareth with some help from the servants. Loth knew he couldn’t kill me since my mother would be heartbroken by it. Gaheris and Gareth were three and two years old; they wouldn’t understand the death of their mother. Besides he knew it’d seem suspicious, if we both died shortly after each other. Still he wanted to be sure he could dispatch of me whenever needed. He made sure I knew I wasn’t safe, that I knew my life was in his hands. His knights and soldiers would be a little too rough during training, servants would, on his orders, ‘’forget’’ my breakfast or lunch, during a practice hunt someone _accidentally_ hit me with a crossbow.’’

‘’Did he ever hit you?‘’ Arthur asked the knight. ‘’You had a split lip and a bruise on your face when you were, you know, a child.’’

“A few times, but only when I disobeyed him in public or spoke out of turn. He didn't like to get his hands dirty. A few weeks before my thirteenth Samhain my mom fell ill. The morning the feasts were supposed to start she drew her last breath. Since Loth had no reason to keep me alive after that, I started plotting my escape. I moved around the castle every night and never slept in my assigned chambers in fear for assassins. Some of the staff helped me and gave me leftovers since I didn’t know if I could trust the food I was given. Over the course of three months I stole money and some weapons, I left in the middle of the night and haven’t looked back since.’’

‘’If I remember correctly, ‘’ Leon started, ‘’Lord Loth died a year ago, and Gaheris has taken over his lands. Why didn’t you go back then?’’

‘’I don’t know if Gaheris and Gareth remember me, and if they do, they might not want to see me. I’ve been gone for more than ten years and I never even told them goodbye. They believe I’m dead. I’s better this way.’’

‘’Wait,‘’ Arthur looked at Gwaine. “When my father banished you, why didn’t you just say you were a noble? He would have pardoned you; you didn’t have to leave!’’

Gwaine shook his head, ‘’Caerleon took Arawn’s land away when my mother remarried, and I have no claim to Loth’s land. It’s nothing more than an empty title and a forgotten bloodline. I don’t want to be associated to the king who abandoned my mother in any way. I will not be a Caerleon noble.’’

‘’Queen Annis might give it back?’’

‘’There is nothing left for me in those lands.’’ Gwaine looked around the table, now grinning, ‘’I’ve found a family here.’’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! The story is done.  
> I apologize that Elyan's bit is so short, but I simply had no ideas left. I might come back some day and change it, but I'm not sure.
> 
> I have some more plotbunnies to chase down, so if you enjoyed this, check the series every once in a while for new fics.
> 
> I want to thank every one who commented, I've read all of them and it really motivated me to see that you guys liked it!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> I hope you enjoyed reading this, if you did, would you please consider reading the other works in my series or giving some feedback?  
> It'd really help my writing and motivation!  
> Thanks and I hope you have a nice day.


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